..."do you seriously believe that your new terminal, advertising campaign and lower fares by the airlines to fill seats, maybe this one a little, had anything to do with your increase. You know exactly what did it. Competition from the Branson Airport and their low fares are driving down your prices in the region. Why don’t you just admit that? The opening of the Branson Airport is now helping you so why don’t you embrace it."

The number of people using our airport leaped 17 percent in May, compared to the same month last year. The increase comes after 15 consecutive months of numbers that were negative or flat. It was the tenth busiest month in the airport’s history. To do that, in the middle of a recession, is amazing.

Earlier this week a letter came to our offices accusing the airport of spending $14-million for a taxi stand. You know, a taxi stand—that place on the street where taxi cabs line up waiting for customers. The writer was furious. We don’t blame them.

After months of decline, our passenger numbers have flat-lined: in March our total passenger numbers were down one percent over the same month last year. In April we had a zero percent change. In normal times (meaning without a recession) being flat is bad. But these days it’s good. Check out the numbers and you’ll see what I mean:

"With all the news coverage of the new airport in Branson opening as well as the new flights added to the Springfield/Branson Airport, I've not heard anyone mention about a proper USO being placed in either airport...is this a gross oversight?"

"Hey what’s going on? I hear about Branson getting AirTran with service to Atlanta and Milwaukee. Now they got Sun Country airlines with service out of Minneapolis on a 737s and to add AirTran uses 717s. What do you think will happen? Do you think their fares will be consistently lower b/c they use large aircraft? Are any of the airlines at SGF talking about lowering prices?"

How much air service will our airport lose in 2009? Aviation consultant Michael Boyd says we're "really not going to be hit too hard." He thinks air service cuts have leveled off. That was just one of many issues addressed earlier this week when Boyd spoke at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. More than 100 people showed up for the air service seminar last Wednesday.

A lot of you reading this blog are business people. You know full well the importance of perception. That is, how people perceive your business. You also know how frustrating it can be. You know how your business works. You know what services you offer—but there’s always that disgruntled customer out there who knows better than you.

I got a proverbial earful from an airport critic a couple of months ago via email. And brothers and sisters let me tell you, his perception is reality. Just ask him.